Letters to my Valentine
by writersblock777
Summary: Hermione uncovers a set of letters that she believes to be from Ron to a secret valentine of his. But when she reads them, she discovers an unexpected secret... OneShot


**Disclaimer:** Nothing recognizable belongs to me.

**Summary:** Hermione finds a secret about her two best friends through some letters she finds on Ron's desk. ONE-SHOT

**Letters to my Valentine**

Hermione sighed. There was no turning back. She was a thief and there was no changing it. Moreover, she had stolen from someone she _liked_. Someone she could possibly go as far as saying she _loved!_

So it was true that she had stolen lacewing from Professor Snape back in the days. But that was for the greater good. They were going to make the Polyjuice Potion with it, and find out if Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin. Turns out Malfoy wasn't evil enough to be the Heir of Slytherin, which has _got_ to be saying something.

Either way, stealing from Snape was _nothing_ like stealing from her best friend. Especially nothing like stealing from her best friend that she had a crush on, as well. It was a horrible, sinking feeling that took over all her senses. She had never felt guilty before; she never had a reason to.

Hermione didn't like feeling guilty. She hated her conscience for having the ability to make her feel ten times worse than everything else she'd ever felt. And she hated herself for bringing about the guilt in the first place.

She was in the room her and Ginny shared in Number 12, Grimmauld Place, leaning on the windowsill and gazing at the setting sun, having hidden her takings carefully away in her trunk in a side pocket that she had just discovered recently. "What's my problem?" Hermione asked herself, quietly. But no matter how quietly she spoke, someone would hear her. And this time, that someone was the same person she had stolen from.

Ron walked in. "What's what problem?" he asked her concernedly.

Hermione flushed, but kept her face determinedly facing the sun. Ron must've seen the reddish glow on her face, but probably mistook it for being the red sunlight filtering through the windows.

"Oh, nothing for you to worry about," said Hermione. "I'm just a little nervous because our last year at Hogwarts is starting soon _and_ I have to take my Apparition test. Remember I failed last time?"

"That's true," said Ron, grinning and walking out saying, "Probably the first thing you actually ever failed in your life. Well, Harry and I are going to play some Quidditch with Fred and George. And Ginny. Want to watch?"

Hermione gave a small smile. "Thanks Ron, I think I'll pass."

Ron shrugged and left. Hermione sighed of relief. Closing and locking the door quietly, she pulled her stolen goods out of the side pocket. They were a stack of unsent letters all addressed "Dear Valentine."

When Hermione first spotted these on Ron's desk, she was immediately curious of who was this "Valentine" character. She had Vanished them into her room when Ron was deep in a conversation with Harry. She was afraid Harry had seen, but he hadn't said anything.

Hermione read the first letter. It didn't look particularly like Ron's handwriting, but she had definitely seen it before.

_April 11, 1997_

_Dear Valentine,_

_This is your secret admirer. I would tell you my name, but I think you'd be able to figure out who I am by everything I say. And if that doesn't work, I think my handwriting is a big enough clue for you. _

_So, I wanted to talk to you as if I was someone who really liked you (which I do), and not cause any anxiety between us. That's why I think it's better if we talk through letter. (That, and the fact that it would be better if you didn't see me blush as I'm talking to you at this second.) _

_Well, I'll see you sometime, and I promise I won't wave to you in the hallways. _

_I hope you enjoy my letters to you, because I know there will be more than one. I'll see you, but you won't see me. _

_Bye!_

_-Your Secret Admirer_

Hermione wondered why Ron hadn't sent the letter to his "Valentine," whoever that was. What if he had, but she had just given it back to him, breaking his heart? How terrible!

She opened the second envelope, thoroughly curious about who Ron had his heart set on, and read it with wonder.

_April 14, 1997_

_Dear Valentine,_

_I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but I just felt I had to write a second letter to accompany the first one. _

_I've really got to say that I'm finding it hard to stop thinking about you, I like you so much. Why do you have to be so darn attractive? I liked you ever since I met you. Well, I liked you without knowing it, and being the dim, insensitive wart of an eleven-year-old I was, I wasn't exactly nice to you. But at least, I wasn't mean. _

_I'm glad we're on speaking terms now; otherwise I wouldn't even have the courage to write this to you now and tell you that I have a deep attraction to you. Blush (Good thing you weren't there to see that.) _

_I think I like writing to you. I'm allowed to release all the feelings I have for you in one simple letter. I've already told my best friend about you and that I really like you. _

_I remember back to second year, when you were so brave. I don't want to mention what it is you did that led me to believing your bravery just yet…_

_I think I should sign off now. See you around!_

_Love,_

_Your Secret Admirer_

Hermione decided that it was a pretty cute letter than she had read. She wondered how Ron could write so well. Maybe he had gotten some help. Ron had mentioned something about telling his best friend (obviously Harry) about his valentine, so maybe Harry helped him. Maybe not.

She went back to reading with twice as much curiosity now and three times and much guilt. The third letter revealed who Ron's valentine was. Hermione was dumbstruck as she read it.

_April 17, 1997_

_Dear Valentine,_

_I can list every single time that I felt jealous that I wasn't the person you liked. Believe it or not, the first time I felt challenged by anyone was when you went out with Viktor Krum at the Yule Ball. That was your first date, and no offense, I didn't like him at all. I'm pretty good and hiding my feelings most of the time. That's why you didn't realize how jealous I was of him. _

_The second was when Krum…let's save this for the next time. I'm not ready to reveal my identity yet. You either are dying to know or you couldn't care less, but either way, I don't want you to find me so soon. _

_Well, I'll see you!_

_Love,_

_Your Secret Admirer_

_P.S. You were so brave back in second year when you found out about the basilisk and got Petrified in the process. You have no clue how much it means to me every time I think about that._

Hermione could scarcely breathe. Ron liked _her_. He _liked_ her. _He_ liked her. She felt dizzy with excitement. Ron had reciprocated her liking and she had a strong urge to write back saying "Oh, I love you, Ron!" But she really needed to find out what else he felt, so she continued to read onto the next letter. There were only five of them, and the fourth revealed something else.

_April 20, 1997_

_Dear Vale—oh screw it. Dear Hermione,_

_I'm assuming you know your name by now. Even if you didn't realize these letters were written from me to you, you know now. _

_Maybe this will come as a shock to you, maybe not, but I'm sure now. I'm sure that I love you. I feel a really deep feeling when I think of you. Sorry for not describing it further, but I'm a guy. What did you expect? When I feel things, I don't think in detail. _

_I love you. Oh, don't those three little words feel so good? They do to me. It feels so nice to be able to say that out loud. I love Hermione Granger. Sigh_

_Talk to you later!_

_Love,_

_Your Secret Admirer_

Hermione was deeply touched. Ron _loved_ her. Such a beautiful feeling like none Hermione had ever felt rose up inside of her and spread to all parts of her body and she just felt like screaming, she was so happy. But she read the last letter, and she learned something mind-shattering.

_April 22, 1997_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I was going to tell you everything that made me jealous that involved you. The second time was when Viktor Krum asked me if you and I had…anything going on. I said no, obviously. But I was burning up somewhere inside. That's when I really realized I liked you. _

_Otherwise, who could explain those weird feelings? The last time I got jealous was back in fourth year after the Yule Ball when Ron pestered you about going out with Krum. You were so into Krum, and I really wished it was me, and it bothered me. And I wished I had the courage to say something about it. _

_I wish, in fifth year, our relationship might have worked. But I became preoccupied with another girl that was completely unexpected—Cho Chang. She even went as far as kissing me, as I already told you. I have to say that I never wanted my first kiss to be like that. It was horrible. No real love, whatsoever. _

_I know we're allowed to kiss without any real feeling, but I don't like people crying when they kiss. It ruins it. I hope that if you ever were to reciprocate my feelings, you wouldn't cry. _

_But how can you even **try** to reciprocate anything without knowing me first? I suppose that it shouldn't be so hard to tell you my name. _

_My name is Harry Potter. _

_I love you Hermione. _

_Bye…_

_Love,_

_Harry_

_P.S. You probably already knew it was me at the beginning of the letter, but just in case…_

Hermione didn't know how she could have been so mistaken. She dropped the letter on the bed and watched it fall clumsily onto the others.

And what about Ron? Hermione had sincerely thought over all those years that _Ron_ had liked her. But now to hear about Harry was a real shock for her. What was she going to do? Would it be possible that she could just take the letters back and hope that the boys didn't know they were missing?

And what were they doing on Ron's desk anyway? Hermione decided Harry must've given them to Ron. Why, though?

Suddenly, Hermione heard voices coming up the stairs just outside her room. She hurriedly dashed over to her trunk and stashed the letters away in there. She heard Harry and Ron speaking in what seemed to be unnecessarily loud voices.

"Ron, are you sure you don't have them?" asked Harry.

"I had them this morning, and I was going to read them, but I don't know where they went!" Ron said. "I'm sure they'll be somewhere."

"I really wouldn't like to lose them…" said Harry.

"I'll go look now," said Ron. And Hermione heard footsteps going away. But she also heard another pair of footsteps coming closer to her room. So, she hurried and opened the door to find Harry facing her, poised as though he was about to knock.

In that moment, all emotion came gushing into Hermione and she flung her arms around Harry, trying not to cry.

"Hermione, what's going on?" Harry managed to choke out. Hermione led him into her room.

She felt sheepish, admitting to a crime. "I stole the letters off Ron's desk."

Harry's eyes widened considerably.

"I read them!" said Hermione. "I thought they were Ron's! I had no idea…"

Harry dropped his head. "I can't believe it…it wasn't exactly how I would've wanted you to find out…"

"So it's true then?" said Hermione sitting down next to Harry on her cushiony bed.

Harry lifted his head. He seemed to be trying to conceal his laughter. Hermione failed to see what was so funny.

"What's so funny?" she demanded.

Harry burst out laughing and called Ron through breaths. "R—Ro—Ron! C'mere!"

Ron appeared at the doorway and watched Harry laugh with a mind expression of concern etched on his face. "What, Harry?"

"Sh—She _read_ them!" said Harry, his face shining with mirth. Ron joined Harry rolling on the ground with uncontrollable laughter.

Hermione was downright angry at this point. They were _laughing_ at her. "I fail to see what's so funny!" she yelled over their raucous peals of laughter.

Ron straightened up, still grinning, but Harry was still on the floor, laughing madly. "You didn't think they were _real_, did you?" Ron asked, chuckling. "We only made them for fun. Harry here enchanted them so that when you or Ginny read it, you'd see your name and she'd see hers." Harry and Ron erupted into a new wave of laughter.

All the anger, disgust, and humiliation rushed into Hermione at that one second. "HARRY JAMES POTTER! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!"

"What?" said Harry. "It was all Ron's idea!"

"_I_ wanted to trick Ginny," protested Ron. "_You_ wanted to use them on Hermione!"

"But the letters themselves were _your_ idea."

"That's true…"

Hermione sank onto her bed, feeling low, for she had been so mercilessly tricked. Her two best friends had a way of making her feel excessively bad about herself. There had been that time back in third year where they both teamed up against her concerning Crookshanks and the Firebolt. Now, they were toying with her feelings. Time to make them suck it up.

She dissolved into tears. Harry and Ron stopped laughing immediately, and were next to her in an instant. Their hilarity quickly became concern and worry about what they had done.

Harry held her hand softly. "What happened?" he said caringly.

"Yeah, what's going on?" said Ron, worried.

Hermione wiped her tears. "I b-b-believed it! I really thought you meant it Harry! A-A-And I…"

"And what?" prompted Ron.

"I liked you, R-R-Ron!" said Hermione, sobbing again. "Then I r-r-read th-these…and I felt horrible f-f-for Harry! And I l-loved Harry for feelings so dee-eep!"

Harry looked dumbstruck. "I'm so sorry, Hermione, for making you feel like that. I really didn't mean it _personally_. It was just a—a joke…"

Hermione dissolved into another round of tears. It felt good to make them pay for what they had done.

Now was the part which she had to indicate in a not-so-subtle way how she had truly believed Harry and how she felt after. She flung her arms around Harry and sobbed uncontrollably onto his shoulder. Harry was left to hug her and smooth her hair gently. He seemed completely unsure of what to do, because, obviously, he had never seen her cry so much. Hermione knew that any respectable guy would feel insecure around a crying girl.

"Now I'm feeling so horrible because I thought I was returning your feelings!" wailed Hermione. "I thought you really did love me! Because I really do love you!"

Hermione cried harder, and Harry hugged her tighter. Hermione felt the genuine compassion in his hug and she let go of him and wiped her tears. It was a talent to make herself cry so well. She started giggling. Harry and Ron looked confused for a moment, but then comprehension dawned on them, and they looked ashamed. They realized that Hermione was faking it.

"So you didn't mean any of it?" asked Ron. Harry looked helplessly between the two of them.

Hermione giggled happily. "Well…"

"Well what?" Harry prompted hurriedly.

Hermione answered with only a mischievous grin.

After Mrs. Weasley's wonderous feast of a dinner, Hermione decided to write a letter of her own to Harry. She needed to explain all her feelings, and she felt that she couldn't have done that in front of Ron.

_July 15, 1997_

_Dear Harry, _

_I hope I didn't make you feel too horrible this afternoon. All I meant from it was for you to repay me for playing with my feelings. I didn't want you to take that personally. That was meant for both you and Ron. I hope I didn't sog up your shoulder too much._

_Please, the only reason I'm writing to you and not talking is for the fact that I think telling you…things…would be less awkward through a letter. I'm writing to tell you that I really do like you. And I knew I had a small feeling for you for a long time, but that was covered up by a much larger feeling for Ron. _

_But after reading your letters (although those were fake) the feeling I had for you came to the surface and I wanted to tell you that. I think you have a right to know. I really do love you. That's not a joke. _

_Well, I hope you read this soon._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

**A/N:** All done. I hope you enjoyed it. I know it was a really pathetic one-shot, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. If it counts for anything, it was my first one. Okay bye!

Letters To My Valentine


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